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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sentimental Sunday The Hero and White Water Rafting

This is a story written by our oldest daughter and myself. We included her perspective and the Hero's.

Why I have never been white water rafting.

We did not have pictures from the trip.

Note: I'm steering clear of using specific names.

Back when I was around ten yrs. old or so our ward (church congregation) went
on a trip to Waco Rock (not a place - just a big rock in the river called that)
on the Guadalupe River in Texas. We all camped together and then the next day
we were to go down in canoes or rafts down the river. I had never been but was
excited - it sounded SO FUN. My father,
ever the cautious one, impressed upon me the importance of doing just as he
said, and wearing my life jacket."People
drown doing this," he said.

For some reason, my mother couldn't go. (I was pregnant with our 4th
child, so I stayed home with the little ones).Anyway, the point is, it ended up
being only Dad and I on the trip, sleeping in our orange Volkswagen Bus that
Dad had converted the backseat into a bed.

We got there late, but I still remember having fun. Campfires were going and we
were invited to hang out with our neighbors and roast smores. Yum. However, the
buzz going around the camp was that there might not be any rafting/canoeing the
next day because earlier rains had caused the river to swell. My father made
the instant decision - I was not going to go. I was SO disappointed. He made
arrangements for me to stay with someone else in case he went - can you believe
I don't remember who that was? I have a vague feeling it was Sister "T",
but I can't remember for sure.

The next morning a joyful shout flew over the camp - Waco was open for
business! My father started to crumble - I really, REALLY wanted to go. His arm
went around my shoulders as he started to vacillate - he hated to see me
disappointed. I remember a feminine voice of caution telling him he didn't want
me on that river. It was too risky the voice said. So he left me behind.
The next few hours were the most terrifying I have ever experienced in my life
- literally. Here is why:

About 30 minutes later there was a shout in camp - a canoe with one of our
families had been overturned! We sped to a spot on the river and picked up the
young girl - she was bruised from the water slamming her over and over against
the rocks. She was shaking so bad from cold, shock, and fear. In the car she
slumped back exhausted, while they checked her for broken bones.

I watched with growing fear as the women around me took her back to the camp,
whispering that no one should have gone. I asked some questions about the teen,
and they quickly tried to cover up what they had been saying, but the damage
was done. I knew my daddy was in danger. They tried to get me to play with the other
kids, but I vividly remember the lazy dragonflies in the air as I looked across
the way at our Volkswagen Bus and wondered how I would get home if my dad died.
How would we get his body home? What would my mother do? I didn't want anything
to happen like that. I remember crying.
What can I say - my imagination was always too good; twisted.

Through that first part I learned my father & and a huge 6’+ man of about
290 pounds had teamed up to canoe. My dad’s partner showed up at camp
awhile later, emerging from the trees. He was limping and had a broken nose.
With me standing there, he spoke openly about how their canoe had flipped and
pinned my dad underneath and knocked him into the rock. He said he'd had enough
and decided to walk back to camp, but my dad had joined up with some kid that
needed help. The kid's partner had also abandoned him on the river.

Dad was furious with Hugh for the spill they took. Here
was his version: Before we started down the river we studied the approaches and
decided that we would go down a specific side of the rock.We gauged our paddling."As we started towards the rock, I was
yelling at him to paddle to the left so we'd go one way but he kept paddling to
the right against me... so we ended up against that damned rock and flipped.
And I'm pinned under the canoe with my face smashed on the river bed against it
like this (and then he'd do a mime of being pinned down).My thoughts were I may die here. And I would have drowned, except a canoe that was
traveling just under water flowed over me and broke the suction popping me up
off the floor of the river, letting me rise to the top."Back to my story:I
must have been beside myself with fear at that point. I vaguely recall someone
saying, "take her to the end of the river so she can watch the Hero." I can still see the rapids
flowing over the rocks when we drove down to the ending point, my nose pressed
against the glass, searching every raft that swept by. There were rangers of
some sort all over the place. People were shaking getting out of their canoes
and rafts. Word got around that they had shut the river down - it was a matter
of just getting the people OUT now.

Kayaks, canoes and rafts, one after one showed up around the bend, some folks
giving the rangers a hard time about having to get out. Then there was the guy
who had a broken leg. I began to wonder if my dad had fallen in again - it
seemed ages since his partner had shown up at camp. But finally, there he was -
with a young man in a canoe. He made it, and gave me a BIG hug when he saw me.
My dad did go off on the park and how dare they allow anyone on a river like
that! You had to know my dad. ;)

But that's why I can't go white water rafting. I
still WANT to, and I plan to force myself to overcome someday, but for now I
still break out into a cold sweat thinking about it. We went floating down the
Brazos at New Braunfels one year with my husband's parents, and although I
didn't say it, I was terrified. But I did it - in a raft, not a tube. The
saving grace - there's no rapids to deal with there. =)From the Hummer: I was just glad I wasn’t there and heard the story from them later.